Green Hornet To Be A Laugh-Riot Comedy

We’ve already known for a while that Seth Rogen will be playing the Green Hornet in the movie of the same name. A while back word surfaced that Stephen Chow (Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle) had landed the role of Kato, the asian sidekick. Now comes word that Chow will be directing the film as well.

Let’s get something straight: I am a HUGE Stephen Chow fan – I loved both of the above mentioned movies and offer up proof via my 5 star review of Kung Fu Hustle. I also like Seth Rogen, although I don’t worship at the altar of his comedy as so many other movie news sites seem to do.

On the other hand, I have very fond memories of the old Green Hornet TV series. It was on around the same time period as the old Batman show starring Adam West and Burt Ward. However while that show was light and fun and poked fun at itself, The Green Hornet served as a serious counterbalance as an attempt at a straight up action show.

Therefore I find it incredibly ironic that while Batman has gone the opposite direction of the original series – big time dark and serious with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, Hollywood is taking The Green Hornet in the opposite direction as well: Comedy. (And yes, I know that Chris Nolan’s films had nothing to do with the 1960s TV show, but you get my point.)

I’m pretty sure they’ve decided which way to go as far as the tone of this movie.

Here’s what Chow had to say about taking on directorial duties:

“I’m excited to be taking on ‘The Green Hornet‘ — obviously I’ve been a huge fan of the show since I was a kid,” Chow said. “The idea of stepping into Bruce Lee’s shoes as Kato is both humbling and thrilling, and to get the chance to direct the project as my American movie debut is simply a dream come true.”

I suppose I should be relieved that at least Producer Neal Moritz doesn’t have a background in comedy.

I know that the target audience has most likely never seen the original version which starred Van Williams and Bruce Lee, and most people seem to be happy if not downright excited by all this – but dammit, I really wanted to see a serious take on this. If they did a straight-up Green Hornet I believe they’d have the possibility for a new movie franchise. I suppose they may still, but at this point it’s not one I really want to get behind.

The thing that annoys me about stories like this, is WHY look to an old series in order to do a remake and then have the new version bear little or no resemblance to the original?